Unlikely Heroes

"Calvin, why are we at an animal shelter?" Mikaela frowned in bafflement as Cal unlocked the door of the shelter, waving her inside.

"Do you have the key to Narnia or some shit on your key chain too?" she asked.

"You get to Narnia through a wardrobe," Cal pointed out as he led her further into the empty shelter and she could hear dogs start to bark eagerly.

"You still haven't answered me," she said. "Why do you have a key to the animal shelter?"

"I uh...well I work here."

"Seriously?" Mikaela followed him and watched with a soft smile as he walked down the rows of kennels and talked to the dogs. Most of them were puppies, wagging their tails happily. She moved forward slowly and knelt to pet one through the mesh.

"Do you wanna play with them?" Cal asked. He opened the kennel she was kneeling in front of and an excited pair of beagle puppies jumped out at her, trying to lick her face. She laughed and fended them off, scratching behind their ears. She spent a few minutes playing with them and then ushered them back into their kennel. Cal had disappeared somewhere in the back and Mikaela stood and went to look for him. She found him trying to coax a silver pit bull to come get the treat he was holding. As Mikaela approached, she saw that the dog was missing one eye.

"She has a hard time trusting anyone," Cal sighed, glancing over at Mikaela. "I'm making progress with her but it's slow going."

"What happened to her?"

"Her owners abused her. Did a bad home ear crop job, beat her, left her outside in bad weather and almost starved her to death. She was dehydrated and malnourished when she came here." Cal's jaw was clenched and he sounded angry.

"You really care about animals, don't you? That's why you set those frogs free in biology last year."

Cal's shoulders relaxed slightly and he chuckled. "Yeah." He continued to look at the pit bull, who approached him tentatively.

"Was her owner a man?" Mikaela asked.

"I think so. Why?"

"Let me try."

"She bites sometimes. I don't want you getting hurt."

Mikaela used her power to launch the treat into her own hand. She waved off Cal's protests, nudging him out of the way. She sat on the floor and held the treat in her hand.

"Just let me try," she said to Cal. "I probably seem less threatening."

Cal hesitated, watching her with concern, but he finally retreated, going back into the front part of the shelter with the adoptable dogs.

"Some assholes really did a number on you, huh?" Mikaela said quietly. "It's not fair. These people were supposed to take care of you, love you. And you never knew what you were doing wrong but they kept hurting you. And it became easier to just be angry because then at least people would leave you alone. But you're not vicious at all, are you? You're just lonely and sad. But trusting someone and being vulnerable just allows another opportunity for someone to tell you you're unlovable. All because someone else scarred you and now people think you're ugly."

The dog had been pressed into the corner, hackles raised and lips pulled back. But as Mikaela talked to her in a soft voice she seemed to slowly relax, even taking a couple of reluctant steps forward.

"It's an unfortunate thing I've found about people," Mikaela said. "They'll judge you based on your scars instead of on the fact that you survived whatever gave them to you. You may find this hard to believe, but I know how you feel. Nobody really likes having me around either."

The dog moved closer, nose starting to twitch as she smelled the treat in Mikaela's hand.

"But I don't think you're ugly at all," Mikaela went on. "If it weren't for the fact that my house isn't really conducive to living things, I'd take you home with me."

The dog sat in front of her, and Mikaela held the treat out for her. She sniffed it for a moment and then gobbled it out of her hand, munching happily. Mikaela giggled softly, stroking the dog's head.

"She likes you."

Mikaela glanced up to see Cal standing in the doorway looking surprised. There was something else in his gaze that she couldn't read. She shrugged, continuing to gently pet the dog.

"What's her name?" she asked.

"She had one but she doesn't respond well to it. We've been trying to come up with another one."

Mikaela studied the dog, who had started sniffing her looking for more treats.

"Hey now, don't get greedy," Mikaela said. "You're pretty tough, you know that? You need a tough name. But you're a pretty girl, so you can't have an ugly name." She considered as she levitated the box of treats into her hand, feeding the dog another one.

"How about...Moxie?" she asked. The dog continued to nose at the box of treats, but her tail began to wag ever so slightly.

"Yeah," Mikaela said, nodding. "You definitely look like a Moxie."

"I like it," Cal said. They sat for a while longer, feeding Moxie treats and trying to get her used to her new name. She seemed to respond to it better than whatever her old name had been.

"I never would have pegged you as a pit bull fan," Cal said when they finally left.

"I always wanted a pet but I've never had one. The closest I came was when I was seven. This little sparrow fell out of his nest trying to fly and he hurt his wing. So I made him a little bed in a shoe box and splinted the wing. I named him Condor, cause I thought it would boost his confidence." She shook her head, smiling ruefully. "But my dad didn't like the chirping. So he came into my room one afternoon and killed the bird."

Cal froze in the middle of unlocking her door. Mikaela had cried the entire rest of that day, after her father left for work. But she had gotten good at masking her emotions over the years and managed to tell the story without her voice shaking, even though the memory hurt.

"I just kind of figured asking for pets would be a bad idea," she added, sliding into the car. She glanced at Cal as he drove. He looked lost in thought.

"I never would have pegged you as working at an animal shelter," she said. "You apparently know one of the nation's most famous fashion designers and you work with fluffy little animals. Definitely not what I expected from Cal Bennett."

"I'm full of surprises, Your Highness." Cal shot her a crooked grin. She couldn't argue with that. He seemed to be surprising her at every turn. He walked her to the front door when they reached her house. She didn't want to say goodbye to him yet, so after she unlocked her door she spun around and gripped the front of his shirt, tugging him down and kissing him fiercely. She fumbled the door open and pulled him inside, pushing his jacket off of his shoulders. He drew back slightly.

"Hey," he said quietly. "I don't expect you to-"

"I know," Mikaela interrupted. She shut the door with her foot and kissed him again, leading him up the stairs.



Mikaela returned to school on Monday, and all anyone could seem to talk about was how the football team was going to get its ass beat with Mikey, Jeff and Derek out of commission. Derek had broken his collarbone and messed up his back; he likely wouldn't be able to play for the rest of the season. Jeff had woken up after two and a half days, with some nasty bruises and some cuts from the glass, a broken nose, and a banged up knee but it didn't seem like anything extensive or permanent. Mikey got off the easiest with just a broken arm and a few shallow cuts. He was already back in school; Jeff and Derek would be returning soon. It seemed none of them had said anything about Mikaela being there during the crash, and when she entered the cafeteria and found Mikey sitting at their usual table he avoided looking at her.

She stayed quiet while her friends talked incessantly about things she didn't care about. Her father had come home Saturday evening, but even that hadn't been able to totally ruin the good mood she'd been in from spending time with Cal. She was mystified by it all; she'd never been so happy to be around any of the other guys she hung out with, and none of them had ever done anything nice for her. They usually just tried to get her clothes off the second they were alone.

Mikaela stirred her granola and yogurt absent-mindedly, replaying Friday's events over and over in her head. She heard Sadie emit a squeaky sort of gasp and knew Cal must have entered the cafeteria. She glanced up to see him talking to his friend; the one she'd said looked like a hamster. She wondered if he felt Sadie's love struck stare boring a hole in his head because he glanced in their direction. Mikaela met his gaze briefly, returning her attention to her yogurt before someone noticed the tiny smile on her face.

"He totally looked over here!" Sadie whispered loudly. "I told you he was into me, Janice."

Janice just rolled her eyes, along with almost everyone else at the table. Mikaela stayed silent. She could understand now why Sadie was so enamored with Cal. When lunch was over she gathered her books, still lost in thought. So she didn't notice Mikey approaching until he grabbed her shoulder with his good arm.

"You better not tell anyone what happened," he hissed. Mikaela shook his hand off her arm and stared stonily at him.

"You better not fucking touch me again," she said.

"No one would believe you anyway, Mikaela. You breathe a word to anyone and we'll just tell everyone you were there cause you wanted to be. It'll be your word against ours. Who do you think people will listen to?"

Anger spiked in her chest as he smirked and walked away. Her head pounded and halfway up the hall he suddenly jerked as if shoved and fell to the tile on his knees with a hiss of pain. Mikaela stalked away as someone rushed to help him up. She was still angry when she began her walk home, and when she felt someone tap her shoulder she whipped around, expecting it to be Mikey again and fully prepared to punch his broken arm.

"Whoa." Cal held up his hands in surrender. "You look ready to commit murder. If you're gonna stab me, please avoid the face."

Mikaela rolled her eyes but her stormy expression softened.

"Don't worry Calvin, I'm not going to ruin your pretty face."

He grinned and Mikaela felt her bad mood start to dissipate.

"You in a hurry to go home?" he asked. She shook her head.

"Good." He grabbed her hand and tugged her toward his car. "We have super suits to make, remember?"

"Cal, stop calling them that," she groaned. "It sounds ridiculous."

"I am ridiculous," Cal pointed out. Mikaela smiled.

"Yeah," she agreed. "I guess you kind of are."